Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle set for boost from major music festivals

Foo Fighters on the Main Stage at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend at Carlisle Airport

Share

Get daily updates directly to your inbox

Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email

Liverpool's Baltic Triangle area could become a hot-spot for festivals and major music events, say culture bosses.

The district, dubbed the city’s “creative quarter” after an influx of digital and arts- based businesses moved in, is also home to a growing number of bars and night-time attractions.

Events experts are hoping its popularity with music fans will help attract visiting shows to consider the area around Jamaica Street and Greenland Street as a venue.

Love Culture, the firm run by city culture guru Jayne Casey, has applied to renew a licence which could allow outdoor events attended by up to 50,000 people to be held there.

She told the ECHO the licence, which had previously run for several years and expired last year, had never been used to its full potential.

Ms Casey, who was the creative director for the 2008 European Capital of Culture opening, added: “We have had quite a few events down there which have been successful, but the hope is that we will see major events tempted down to the area rather than some of the more traditional parts of the city centre which have been used in the past.”

Events such as Radio 1’s Big Weekend are among those which it is hoped will consider the Baltic Triangle on future visits to Liverpool.

Ms Casey said: “Things are really moving forward down there.

“We have always seen the potential of this as an events area if you put the roads and the buildings together.”

Councillors are set to consider the application at a meeting later this month.

City council licensing officers have recommended the licence should be approved on a temporary, trial basis with a number of conditions.

The terms of the renewed licence are set to include limits on numbers and a time restriction which would force events to finish by 9pm on weekdays and 11pm between Thursdays and Saturdays.

A blanket licence means individual event organisers do not need to apply separately for permission to host events, providing they fit in with the overall conditions imposed.

Although up to 50,000 people could attend, it is likely the licence would chiefly apply to a number of smaller- capacity events.

A similar move was made recently to secure a licence for large-scale events to be held in Sefton Park.

Councillors approved the plan, despite objections from residents who feared noise and anti-social behaviour could increase.